The Heights of Londo [IC 4: Turnabout Trainers]

[Hazuki]

The icecream does prove to be cold, like it has just been bought, and is an inoffensive vanilla flavor.

"Oh!" Utha smiles. "Are you referring to that curious Kantonese girl who does the poses? That was very kind of you." She then turns her gaze on Alyssa, as Maggie hovers the bit of ice cream she's allowed into her mouth. The Pokemon freezes momentarily, clearly not expecting the coldness, but powers through. "Shroomish, I'm familiar with Shroomish. A very blobby little thing, but it evolves into quite the fighter."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods back to Utha, pausing and swallowing before she responds. "Yeah. She's a friend so we wanted to help her out." She smiles at Maggie as she enjoys her ice cream, then looks back at Utha. "Oh, Shroomish evolves? I didn't know that. Wonder if it learns any unique moves."

[Hazuki]

"I believe it does have a signature move! I can't quite remember which, but it was definitely more of a Grass type move than anything else..." Utha ponders, then suddenly moves her good arm like she's going to clap her hands together, but can't. So she points a little at Alyssa instead. "Have you uncovered any good moves recently? Any sketches you can share? You know I love your art."

[Comissar]

Leah finds herself a little unsure of how to respond to Utha, both to her description of Juno and the direction her thoughts go on Shroomish. Perhaps understandably, the mercenary-in-training seemed far more focused on the combat applications of the pokémon. "Well, uh, we mostly helped her catch it for, uh, for companionship..." Leah sat back a little in her chair, rubbing at one arm.

[Hazuki]

"Companionship, huh..." Utha ponders aloud, nodding as she does so. "Did you go to find that one in particular? I don't know whether I'd choose a Shroomish, myself..."

[tgva8889]

"I believe it does have a signature move! I can't quite remember which, but it was definitely more of a Grass type move than anything else..." Utha ponders, then suddenly moves her good arm like she's going to clap her hands together, but can't. So she points a little at Alyssa instead. "Have you uncovered any good moves recently? Any sketches you can share? You know I love your art."

Alyssa looks down into her bowl. "I, uh, I haven't done much art lately. Not been, uh, really inspired." Turning towards Utha, she smiles, a bit too wide and a bit too strained. "It's fine, though. I'm sure I'll get back into it soon."

[Hazuki]

Utha stares at Alyssa for a couple of moments. "Then what you need is inspiration. Are there not a couple of trainers in town, prepared to face Lady Diwyneb? Surely a battle so grand would get your fingers itching for the pencil?"

[Comissar]

Leah perks up at Utha's question, "Oh! Sass will be prepping for that for sure. Maybe we could ask her if she'd mind you sketching?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks between her friends and turns a bit red, laughing nervously. "Um, I don't know about that. I feel like Sass doesn't like me very much."

[Hazuki]

Utha does a double take at Alyssa. "Huh? What? Why would anyone not like you? You're wonderful!"

[Comissar]

Leah nods her agreement with Utha, "Yeah. I think, uh, I think you're selling yourself short there. Besides, Sass is gonna want to be fighting Lady Diwyneb no matter what, I'm sure she won't mind you sketching on the sidelines."

[tgva8889]

"If you say so." Alyssa takes a moment to enjoy another cold mouthful of ice cream before she looks back at Leah. "Is Sass gonna be able to do the challenge? She was still training before."

[Hazuki]

"I think you can challenge with minimal notice, but...I admit I haven't spoken to many new trainers."

[Comissar]

"She's strong, she's already won a few times, right..?" Leah tilts her head, "If, uh, if she doesn't feel like she's ready yet, maybe we can see about finding her a training partner first..? So that she can gear up and get more ready..?"

[tgva8889]

"I, uh, I hope so." Alyssa looks at Leah, then looks back at at her ice cream. She pushes it around a bit in the bowl, the dessert having melted enough that it moves on a small puddle of itself. "We did try to help a bit, but, uh, I dunno how much she wants my help again."

[Hazuki]

Maggie points at the last bit of ice cream in the bowl that she can't help but notice has not been eaten yet.

"Well, perhaps mine might be welcomed?" Utha suggests. "I don't want to speak too highly of myself, but I am somewhat adept when I'm not injured. Although I may need to be informed of the rules for the challenge; I'm afraid I haven't kept up with them myself and one wouldn't want to advise her to kick Lady Diwyneb in the shins."

[Comissar]

Leah nods her agreement at the suggestion, "If, uh, if you're happy to help, I think Sass would benefit from that. It's, uh, it's just a straight pokémon battle that she'll be doing. Uh, one at a time, usually until someone's run out of pokémon, but sometimes it'll be a first to however many knockouts instead." She grins, "Sass is good, she's already won against Lord Bastille."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa looks over at Maggie, smiles, and pushes the bowl to her.

"Maybe you could help her. I think she can be a bit, um, not sure the word, but uh, I dunno how she'd feel about you helping exactly on the outside but I think it would help to have someone who knows a bit more about battling help."

[Hazuki]

Maggie gratefully picks up the spoon via her ample psychic energy and uses it to scoop up the last of the ice cream.

"Lord Bastille? Well, that's rather impressive! Did she come straight here from Bastille Town?" Utha asks, then smiles at Alyssa's description. "A little...academic and respectful to older girls?" she suggests with a little amusement in her voice.

[Comissar]

Leah nods, "Yeah, it was a, uh, a really cool battle to watch. I think she took a different route here to the one we took, we went through, uh, through Thundercrag and we didn't see her there." She follows Utha's glance to Alyssa, then looks back to the mercenary, "She, uh, she's pretty strong willed. I think she's willing to, uh, to do what it takes to win, though. She was doing some research when we met her here."

[Hazuki]

"That does bode well," Utha muses aloud. "then it seems the only problem is finding her and presenting this proposition! Where might we find her?"

[tgva8889]

Alyssa smiles at Maggie, watching her enjoy the remaining ice cream. "Glad you like it."

Having missed a bit of the conversation, Alyssa looks over at Leah, then back at Utha as she catches up. "Oh, um, I don't know. It's been a couple of days since I last saw her, I think?"

[Hazuki]

"Hmm..." Utha scratches her neck. "She's a foreigner, isn't she? So she'll be at one of these inns."

[Comissar]

Leah shakes her head, "No, she's, uh, she's from Sorland Town. She has been staying at an inn with another girl, Nika. Either of them might be there, Sass might be at the library, and Nika might be at the, uh, the pokécenter?" She shrugs, "If we can't find Sass immediately, if we find Nika we should be able to find her fairly quickly."

[Hazuki]

"Oh. Oh, well, yes, that makes sense, but the inns are full of foreigners, so I wasn't entirely wrong!" Utha says with a little flustered smile. "If it's the center or the library...well, every trainer is going to have to visit the center sooner or later."

[Comissar]

Leah gives a non-committal shrug at Utha's assertion of still being somewhat correct, then nods at the suggestion of heading to the pokécenter. "Starting at the Center sounds good to me, at worst we can ask the Nurse where Nika is and, uh, and work from there."

[tgva8889]

Alyssa nods. "That sounds good. And, uh, I suppose if not we could try Nika's room after?"

[Hazuki]

With their destination decided, the girls and Utha set out to the streets. Maggie insists on being carried, while Utha's Espurr toddles alongside its trainer, easily able to keep up despite its stubby legs. Saura walks along too, with the streets a little emptier than usual thanks to lunchtime not quite having arrived. As they walk, Utha is quite happy to fill the air with conversation about her journey to Diwyneb Town and the things she's been doing despite her injured arm. She's also quite interested in how the girls spent their morning, and the encounter with the behatted berry-gobbler.

The Pokecenter is fortunately easy to find, and provides a nice place for Saura to be tended to should the Bulbasaur be sore. The Nurse in attendance is familiar, not least because the girls spot Nika sitting on a table in the space behind her, surrounded by tools, pieces, and what seem to be a couple of half-crafted Pokeballs that the blonde craftsgirl is fiddling with.

[Comissar]

Leah's happy to carry Maggie as the group head to the Pokécenter, mostly letting Utha and Alyssa carry the conversation and only adding the occassional comment as they walk. On entering the Pokécenter, Leah heads over to the Nurse on duty with Saura in tow. She breaks into a smile as she recognises Nika behind the nurse. Once close enough to the desk she offers the nurse a wave with her free hand, "Hi, umm, would you mind checking over my Bulbasaur? We were doing some training out in the woods and she could use some attention..?" Leaning slightly to the side, she then adds, "Hi Nika! It's good to see you again!"

[Hazuki]

"Of course! Let's take a look at this little lady..." The Nurse says as she strolls around her table so she can crouch down in front of Saura and look her over. Saura is quite happy to submit herself to the examination and the nurse's gentle ministration.

"Hey! Leah!" Nikka perks up, then scrambles for something around her and retrieves what looks like the top half of a familair Kanto premier ball. "Look what I got! That's the kind of thing you have back home, right?"